Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Hardcover - USA - First edition.

Author Robert C. O'Brien Published 1971-??-?? Type Fiction Genre Adventure Themes Adventure, Animals, Ethics, Farm Age Group Children

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is an adventure novel by Robert C. O'Brien published in 1971. The book won the 1972 Newbery Medal and was adapted into the animated film The Secret of NIMH in 1982. This is the first book in the NIMH series. Two sequels were later written by the author's daughter.

In the book, a mother mouse has to leave her home in a farmer's garden before he plows it in the spring, but her sick child is unlikely to survive in the cold damp weather, so she asks for help among the neighboring animals only to discover the nearby colony of rats are super-intelligent for some unknown reason.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Audiobook read by Barbara Caruso.
Finished	2025-02-15.

I watched The Secret of NIMH as a child, and, though it wasn't particularly high quality, I still enjoyed it when I rewatched it as an adult. When I learned it was adapted from a book, I was curious to see how the book differed. I read it and found it to lack a lot of the excitement seen in the movie.

Review

Overall:

Good

• I really enjoyed Mrs. Frisby. She's a compassionate, brave, and determined woman who is willing to risk her life to save her family. A genuine heroine.
• The idea of laboratory scientists inadvertently making their rats so smart they are able to escape is a very clever premise that addresses how beneficial science can be, while at the same time stressing the importance of caution.
• I like how, as they become more intelligent, the rats also become more ethical and desire to become self-sufficient because they strive for justice.

Bad

• The scientists are able to make the rats vastly more intelligent, stronger, and near immortal. If word of this got out, it could cause some very serious social problems. It would be nice if a reason were given as to what prevents their research from getting out. For example, perhaps an bureaucrat, who was already against like the project, cut all funding when the rats were discovered missing and destroyed all the research?
• The mice being lost in the air ducts doesn't make sense because, not only are ducts not labyrinthine, but these mice are highly intelligent and have been specifically trained to solve mazes.

Ugly

• The beginning of the book presents a very real problem with a lot of suspense as Mrs. Frisby repeatedly risks her life and meets with strange bedfellows in order to beat the ticking clock. However, once you get to the point where the rats begin telling their history, pretty much all suspense ends. There is a brief moment where things get exciting again when Mrs. Frisby has to drug Dragon, but everything else is drawn out prose, and the book becomes quite dull. Having seen the film first, I was expecting a lot more exciting conflict.
• Jenner keeps coming up as an intelligent but discontent rebel, so you'd expect him to be a major foil, but there is never any payoff. It's merely suggested he died in an accident. The movie does a much better job of making him an actual villain.

Media

Covers

• 

  An illustration from an early scene in the book. A bit underwhelming for a cover.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Mrs. Frisby is a very strong independent woman who grows more brave throughout the book. To a lesser extent, Auntie Shrew is also strong.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Mrs. Frisby and Auntie Shrew talk about moving her house.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Race isn't mentioned, but, considering the setting, it's probable that all of the humans are white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Quotes

• By teaching us how to read, they had taught us how to get away.

Adaptions

O'Brien never did anything else with the book during his life. After he died, his daughter wrote two sequels. The book was adapted to an animated film in 1982 called The Secret of NIMH, and has been performed as an audio book. It has been in the works to be made into another film and a TV series, but neither has panned out.

Links